Methods and apparatus for monitoring and encouraging health and fitness

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus are provided for monitoring and encouraging health and fitness. In accordance with a first aspect, an apparatus is provided that is adapted to assist in weight loss and exercise. The apparatus comprises a personal digital assistant (PDA) having computer program code adapted to assist in at least one of calorie counting, meal selection, meal suggestion, weight monitoring, weight loss or gain monitoring, fat consumption monitoring, sugar consumption monitoring and salt consumption monitoring. The PDA also includes computer program code adapted to display historical data regarding at least one of calorie counting, meal selection, meal suggestion, weight monitoring, weight loss or gain monitoring, fat consumption monitoring, sugar consumption monitoring and salt consumption monitoring. Numerous other embodiments are provided, as are methods, systems and computer program products.

This application is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/708,924 filed Dec. 7, 2012, and titled“METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING AND ENCOURAGING HEALTH ANDFITNESS” (Attorney Docket No. BMD004/CO5), which is a continuation ofand claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/305,714filed Nov. 28, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,337,367 and titled “METHODS ANDAPPARATUS FOR MONITORING AND ENCOURAGING HEALTH AND FITNESS” (AttorneyDocket No. BMD004/C04), which is a continuation of and claims priorityfrom U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/979,275 filed Dec. 27, 2010,now U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,451 and titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FORMONITORING AND ENCOURAGING HEALTH AND FITNESS” (Attorney Docket No.BMD004/CO3), which is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/676,666 filed Feb. 20, 2007, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,857,730, and titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING ANDENCOURAGING HEALTH AND FITNESS” (Attorney Docket No. BMD004/CO2), whichis a continuation of and claims priority from U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/945,808 filed Sep. 21, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,189,191,and titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING AND ENCOURAGING HEALTHAND FITNESS” (Attorney Docket No. BMD004/C01), which is a continuationof and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/702,179filed Oct. 30, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,516, and titled “METHODSAND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING AND ENCOURAGING HEALTH AND FITNESS”(Attorney Docket No. BMD004), which claims priority from U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/162,502, filed Oct. 29, 1999,and titled “METHODS OF CONDUCTING INTERNET COMMERCE” (Attorney DocketNo. VB001/L). All of the above applications are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to methods and apparatus for monitoringand encouraging health and fitness.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A fitness craze has recently swept the United States and many othercountries. From fat-free potato chips to treadmills, people around theworld have become obsessed with weight loss and healthy living.Accordingly, record numbers of new fitness products/exercise equipmenthave emerged to meet this obsession (including stair climbers,treadmills, recumbent bicycles, ski machines, and the like). However, noconvenient mechanism has been developed for monitoring and encouraginghealth and fitness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the needs of the prior art, methods and apparatus areprovided for monitoring and encouraging health and fitness. Inaccordance with a first aspect of the invention, an apparatus isprovided that is adapted to assist in weight loss and exercise. Theapparatus comprises a personal digital assistant (PDA) having computerprogram code adapted to assist in at least one of calorie counting, mealselection, meal suggestion, weight monitoring, weight loss or gainmonitoring, fat consumption monitoring, sugar consumption monitoring andsalt consumption monitoring. The PDA also includes computer program codeadapted to display historical data regarding at least one of caloriecounting, meal selection, meal suggestion, weight monitoring, weightloss or gain monitoring, fat consumption monitoring, sugar consumptionmonitoring and salt consumption monitoring. Numerous other embodimentsare provided, as are methods, systems and computer program products.Each computer program product may be carried by a medium readable by acomputer (e.g., a carrier wave signal, a floppy disc, a hard drive, arandom access memory, etc.).

Other objects, features and aspects of the present invention will becomemore fully apparent from the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiments, the appended claims and the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system for monitoring andencouraging health and fitness; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first exemplary process of the system of FIG.1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system 100 for monitoringand encouraging health and fitness. The system 100 includes a server 102that may communicate with one or more user devices 104 a-n via a network106. As shown in FIG. 1, a grocery store 108 may also be incommunication with the server 102 and/or with one or more of the userdevices 104 a-n via the network 106. Any other party such as arestaurant, a catering service, and/or any other relevant person orentity may be in communication with the server 102 in addition to, or inplace of the grocery store 108. It will be understood that devices incommunication need not be in continuous communication and actually mayrefrain from exchanging data/information most of the time. Additionally,devices may be in communication even though one or more steps must beperformed before the devices may communicate (e.g., dialing a networkservice provider, connecting to a network service provider, logging ontoa Web site, etc.).

The server 102 may comprise any conventional server (e.g., one or moreconventional microprocessors) having computer program code containedtherein as described below. Each user device 104 a-n may comprise a desktop computer, a lap top computer, a set top box, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), an internet-capable telephone device and/or any otherdevice capable of communicating with the server 102 via the network 106,and each user device 104 a-n may have computer program code containedtherein as described below. The network 106 may comprise a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, an intranet, anextranet or any other network. In general one or more of the userdevices 104 a-n, the grocery store 108, and/or any other relevant thirdparty may communicate with the server 102 or amongst one another via anycommunications medium (e.g., via telephone, via facsimile, via mail,etc.).

As stated, the server 102 and/or one or more of the user devices 104 a-nmay contain computer program code adapted to direct the server 102and/or the one or more user devices 104 a-n in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first exemplary process 200 of the system100. With reference to FIG. 2, in step 202, the process 200 begins. Instep 204, the server 102 receives information about a user. For example,if the server 102 is a Web server, the user may employ one of the userdevices 104 a-n to log-on to a Web site administered by the server 102,and to provide information to the server 102. Relevant information mayinclude any type of demographic information (e.g., age, weight, height,sex, etc.), geographic/address information (e.g., where the user lives,contact information, etc.), goals or objectives of the user (e.g.,weight loss, healthier diet, exercise objectives, etc.) or any otherrelevant information. In general, information about the user may beprovided to the server 102 by any mechanism (e.g., via mail, via e-mail,via telephone, via cellular telephone, via facsimile, etc.). Forexample, information may be received via one or more HTTP transmissionsor via some other communications protocol.

In step 206, the server 102 monitors the performance of the user (e.g.,receives information from one or more of the user devices 104 a-n aboutthe user's food intake and/or exercise level and/or generates historicalinformation about the user's performance). In step 208, the server 102provides feedback to the user based on the monitored performance of theuser (e.g., encouragement to exercise more, not to eat certain foods, toeat certain foods, etc.). The feedback may be provided at any time(e.g., periodically, randomly, etc.) and by any means (e.g., via mail,via e-mail, via facsimile, via telephone, etc.).

In step 210, the user (optionally) may employ one or more of the userdevices 104 a-n to order groceries from the grocery store 108 (e.g., inaccordance with the dietary goals of the user). For example, the system100 may be configured so as to:

maintain on a PDA a list of grocery items purchased by a shopper;

display on the PDA at least one of the grocery items within themaintained list of grocery items;

allow selection of one or more of the displayed previously purchasedgrocery items;

display at least one of the grocery items within the maintained a listof grocery items based on prior use patterns of the shopper;

display a message that indicates that, based on prior use patterns ofthe shopper, at least one of the grocery items within the maintainedlist of grocery items should be purchased by the shopper;

e-mail the shopper;

display on a PDA a list of user-selectable grocery items;

allow selection of at least one of the displayed selectable groceryitems;

display at least one characteristic of a selected grocery item (e.g., acharacteristic selected from

the group consisting of calories, fat content, salt content, cholesterolcontent, whether organically grown, whether low fat, whether suitablefor diabetics, whether Kosher, price, size, shelf life and brand name);

display a comparison of at least one characteristic of a plurality ofselected grocery items;

allow selection of the at least one characteristic.

rank a plurality of selected grocery items based on the at least onecharacteristic.

maintain on a PDA a list of grocery items purchased by a shopper;

generate a report based on the list of purchased grocery items;

generate a report selected from the group consisting of calorieconsumption, fat consumption, sugar consumption, salt consumption andgrocery cost;

e-mail a report;

generate a report periodically;

display on a PDA a list of prepared foods;

allow selection of at least one prepared food;

display a recipe for each selected prepared food;

display at least one user-selectable grocery item that is an ingredientof the recipe;

display the cost of preparing each selected prepared food based on thecost of user-selected ingredients.

display at least one user-selectable ingredient for the recipe based ona maintained list of grocery items purchased by a shopper;

display a date when each user-selected ingredient was previouslypurchased by the shopper; and/or

provide a link to a food preparation WEB site capable of generating aprice quotation for the preparation of at least one selected preparedfood.

In step 212, the process 200 ends.

The foregoing description discloses only exemplary embodiments of theinvention, modifications of the above disclosed apparatus and methodwhich fall within the scope of the invention will be readily apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art. For instance, in at least oneembodiment of the invention, one or more of the user devices 104 a-n isa personal digital assistant (PDA) having an application (e.g., computerprogram code) adapted to assist in calorie counting (e.g., keeping trackof caloric intake), meal selection, meal suggestion, weight monitoring(e.g., via user entry or via a download from an electronic scale),weight loss or gain monitoring, fat consumption monitoring, sugarconsumption monitoring and salt consumption monitoring. The one or morePDAs may include computer program code adapted to display historicaldata regarding at least one of calorie counting, meal selection, mealsuggestion, weight monitoring, weight loss or gain monitoring, fatconsumption monitoring, sugar consumption monitoring and saltconsumption monitoring.

Exercise suggestions, exercise statistics (e.g., time exercised,distance run, type of exercise performed, historical data, etc.) may bestored/accessed via one or more of the user devices 104 a-n. Theinformation may be stored locally (e.g., within the PDA) or remotely(e.g., within the server 102). Additionally, a pulse monitor or othermonitor may be provided that interfaces the PDA (e.g., by modifying thePDA if necessary to allow such an interface) and that automaticallyprovides exercise information and/or calories-burned information to thePDA. A comparison of calorie intake versus calories burned may beautomatically generated at any time (e.g., after a meal, at the end ofthe day, after exercise, etc.). Inspirational messages may be displayed(e.g., during exercise, prior to meal time, automatically if desired,etc.) to help with weight loss/exercise performance. Each PDA may beprovided with a video game such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,868(which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) to furtherinspire exercise.

Each PDA may store, for example, grocery lists and may downloadinformation from a WEB site regarding suitable meals, products, etc.,that are consistent with a user's diet and exercise goals. The WEB sitemay include a health food line such as WEIGHT WATCHER'S™, or any of theother grocery concepts described herein.

Accordingly, while the present invention has been disclosed inconnection with the preferred embodiments thereof, it should beunderstood that other embodiments may fall within the spirit and scopeof the invention, as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a personal digitalassistant (PDA); and a display included as part of the PDA; wherein thePDA includes computer program code that directs the PDA to: monitorexercise level information of a user; communicate the exercise levelinformation to a WEB server; communicate geographic information aboutthe user to the WEB server; retrieve product information consistent withachieving a diet or exercise goal of the user by communicating with theWEB server; display the product information; display at least onepreviously purchased item; and allow selection of a displayed previouslypurchased item.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDA includescomputer program code that directs the PDA to communicate food intakeinformation to the WEB server.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein thePDA includes computer program code that directs the PDA to monitor foodintake information of the user.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein thePDA includes computer program code that directs the PDA to receiveweight information about the user.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 whereinthe PDA includes computer program code that directs the PDA to receiveweight information communicated from an electronic scale.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDA includes computer program code thatdirects the PDA to retrieve product information based on the monitoredexercise level information.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDAincludes computer program code that directs the PDA to monitor exerciselevel information of a user by monitoring a pulse of the user.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDA includes computer program code thatdirects the PDA to monitor exercise level information of a user bymonitoring calories burned by the user.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the product information comprises food information.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDA includes computer program code thatdirects the PDA to display a cost of a prepared food.
 11. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the WEB server is in communication with a restaurant.12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the product information relates toa product line.
 13. An apparatus comprising: a personal digitalassistant (PDA); and a display included as part of the PDA; wherein thePDA includes computer program code that directs the PDA to: monitor foodintake information of a user; communicate the food intake information toa WEB server; communicate geographic information about the user to theWEB server; retrieve product information consistent with achieving adiet or exercise goal of the user by communicating with the WEB server;display the product information; display at least one previouslypurchased item; and allow selection of a displayed previously purchaseditem.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the PDA includes computerprogram code that directs the PDA to receive weight information aboutthe user.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the PDA includescomputer program code that directs the PDA to receive weight informationcommunicated from an electronic scale.
 16. The apparatus of claim 13wherein the retrieved product information is based on the monitored foodintake information.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the PDAincludes computer program code that directs the PDA to display a cost ofa prepared food.
 18. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the WEB server isin communication with a restaurant.
 19. The apparatus of claim 13wherein the product information relates to a product line.